Communication billing system

ABSTRACT

A communication billing system comprising a processing system coupled to an interface system. The processing system is configured to process a plurality of wireless service events from a wireless system together at the event level with a plurality of wireline service events from a wireline system to generate total charge records for a plurality of wireless services and a plurality of wireline services. The processing system is also configured to process the total charge records for the plurality of wireless services and the plurality of wireline services to generate a customer bill. The interface system is configured to receive the plurality of wireless service events from the wireless system, receive the plurality of wireline service events from the wireline system, and transmit the customer bill for the processing system.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of prior application Ser. No.09/560,423, filed on Apr. 27, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,615,034 and thatis hereby incorporated by reference into this application.

FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable

MICROFICHE APPENDIX

Not applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to communication networks, and specifically, to acommunication billing system that provides interrelated processing ofwireless service events and wireline service events to produce acustomer bill.

2. Description of the Prior Art

The development of advanced communication networks has taken on criticalimportance with the dramatic rise in consumer demand for additionalservices. Examples of these services include high quality voice, data,and video communications. These services are provided over both wirelessand wired mediums and may be provided across one or multiple networks.For billing purposes, each service includes an individual communicationbilling system associated with the service to process service events andgenerate total charge records that represents a total billing charge forthe respective service. The service events are generated by the systemproviding the individual service and represent an individual usage ofthe service. The total charge records from each billing system areprovided to a total integration system that integrates the total chargerecords for each service subscribed to by a customer onto a singlecustomer bill.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a communication billing system for acustomer subscribing to a wireline service and a wireless service. OnFIG. 1, wireline service events 113 are generated by the wireline system111 for each individual usage of the wireline service during the courseof a billing period. The wireline service events 113 are provided to awireline billing system 101 by the wireline system 111. The wirelineservice events 113 are received in a wireline interface 104 and storedin a wireline processor 103 during the billing period. At thetermination of the billing period, the wireline processor 103 totals allof the wireline service events 113, applies customer discounts, minimumservice charges, taxes, and other promotional discounts or charges togenerate a total charge record 115 for the wireline service. Thewireline processor 103 provides total wireline charge record 115 to thetotal integration system 100.

Substantially concurrently, wireless service events 114 are generated bythe wireless system 112 for each individual usage of the wirelessservice during the course of the billing period. The wireless serviceevents 114 are provided to a wireless billing system 102 by the wirelesssystem 112. The wireless service events 114 are received in a wirelessinterface 106 and stored in a wireless processor 105 during the billingperiod. At the termination of the billing period, the wireless processor105 totals all of the wireless service events 114, applies customerdiscounts, minimum service charges, taxes, and other promotionaldiscounts or charges to generate a total wireless charge record 116 forthe wireless service. The wireless processor 105 provides the totalwireless charge record 116 to the total integration system 100.

The total integration system 100 integrates the total wireline chargerecord 115 and the total wireless charge record 116 onto a singlecustomer bill 107. Unfortunately, as new services are provided,additional billing systems are required to process service eventsgenerated by the new service. Therefore, a need exists in the art for abilling system that processes service events regardless of the source(wireless or wireline) at the event level to generate total chargerecords for each service that can be integrated onto the customer bill.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention advances the art by providing a singlecommunication billing system that provides interrelated processing atthe event level of wireless service events and wireline service eventsto generate total wireless charge records and total wireline chargerecords for each wireless and wireline service subscribed to by thecustomer. In the context of the present invention a service event isdefined as an individual usage of a communication service, whereinexamples of a communication service include but are not limited to,telephone calls, data calls, audio transfers, video transfers, e-mailsessions, voice mail sessions, video mail sessions, web sessions, and/orother similar services provided over a communication network. Theseservices could be provided over a wireless or wired medium and over oneor multiple communication networks.

A first advantage of the present communication billing system is thatnew services are provided without the addition of new billing systems. Asecond advantage of the present communication billing system is thatnetwork size is reduced, as individual billing systems are not requiredto process service events from different services. A third advantage ofthe present communication billing system is that the event levelprocessing of service events from multiple services provides forseamless integration of enhanced billing services such ascross-contribution. A fourth advantage of the present communicationbilling system is that mailing costs are reduced by the integration ofcharge records from multiple invoices into a single invoice. A fifthadvantage of the present communication billing system is that only oneaccount receivable is required for the integrated single invoice. Asixth advantage of the present communication billing system is that theintegrated single invoice reduces a customer's administrative costsbecause only a single payment is required for all services. In thecontext of this application cross-contribution is the application ofunused service minutes as a credit across multiple services.

The communication billing system is comprised of a processing systemcoupled to an interface system. The processing system is configured toprocess a plurality of wireless service events from a wireless systemtogether at the event level with a plurality of wireline service eventsfrom a wireline system to generate total charge records for a pluralityof wireless services and a plurality wireline services. The processingsystem is also configured to generate a customer bill based on the totalcharge records for the plurality of wireless services and the pluralityof wireline services. The interface system is configured to receive theplurality of wireless service events from the wireless system, receivethe plurality of wireline service events from the wireline system, andtransmit the customer bill for the processing system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of prior art communication billingsystems;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a communication billing systemaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example the operation of a communication billingsystem according to the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates another example of a communication billing systemaccording to the present invention; and

FIG. 5 illustrates another example of the operation of a communicationbilling system according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Communication Billing System Configuration and Operation FIGS. 2-3:

FIG. 2 depicts an example of a communication billing system 200according to the present invention. The communication billing system 200comprises a processing system 201 coupled to an interface system 202.The interface system 202 is connected to a wireline system 206 and awireless system 207. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that thewireline system 206 could provide various conventional wireline servicesto customers and the wireless system 207 could provide variousconventional wireless services to customers. Some examples of thewireline services and the wireless services include but are not limitedto, video, data, and voice communications.

The processing system 201 could be any processing system capable ofprocessing a plurality of wireless service events 204 from wirelesssystem 207 together at the event level with a plurality of wirelineservice events 203 from wireline system 206 to generate total wirelesscharge records for a plurality of wireless services provided by wirelesssystem 207 and generate total wireline charge records for a plurality ofwireline services provided by wireline system 206. The processing system201 is also configured to generate the customer bill 208 based on thetotal wireline charge records and total wireless charge records. In someexamples of the present invention, the processing system 201 could alsobe configured to provide the customer bill to the customer.

In the context of this application, processing together at the eventlevel is defined as receiving individual wireless service eventsrepresentative of individual customer usage of wireless services,receiving individual wireline service events representative ofindividual customer usage of wireline services, and processing theindividual wireless and wireline service events together to generate: 1)total wireless charge records for each of the wireless services, 2)total wireline charge records for each of the wireline services, and/or3) a total charge record representative of a total charge for all of thewireline and wireless services. Processing together at the event levelcould also include generating a total wireline charge recordrepresentative of the summation of the total wireline charge records foreach of the wireline services and generating a total wireless chargerecord representative of the summation of the total wireless chargerecords for each of the wireless services.

The interface system 202 could be any interface system capable ofreceiving the plurality of wireless service events 204 from the wirelesssystem 207, receive the plurality of wireline service events 203 fromthe wireline system 206, provide the wireless service events 204 andwireline service events 203 to the processing system 201, and providethe customer bill 208 over communication path 205.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the operation of thecommunication billing system 200. Referring to FIGS. 2-3, wirelineservice events 203 are generated by the wireline system 206 for eachindividual usage of a wireline service by customers at step 300.Wireless service events 204 are generated by the wireless system 207 foreach individual usage of a wireless service by customers at step 301.The wireline system 206 provides the wireline service events 203 to theinterface system 202 at step 302. The wireless system 207 provides thewireless service events 204 to the interface system 202 at step 303. Theinterface system 202 provides the wireline service events 203 and thewireless service events 204 to the processing system 201 at step 304.

At the end of an individual customer's billing period, the processingsystem 201 processes the wireline service events 203 associated with thecustomer, together with the wireless service events 204 associated withthe customer, to generate total wireline and total wireless chargerecords for the individual wireline and wireless services subscribed toby the customer at step 305. At step 306, the processing system 201processes the total wireline charge records and the total wirelesscharge records to generate the customer bill 208 for the customer. Insome examples of the invention, the processing system 201 could also beconfigured to provide the customer bill 208 to the customer. Thecustomer bill 208 could be provided electronically or in a paper format.

Communication Billing Processing System FIGS. 4-5:

FIG. 4 illustrates another embodiment of a communications billing systemin an example of the present invention. Those skilled in the art willappreciate numerous variations that do not depart from the presentinvention. Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that variousfeatures described below could be combined with the above describedembodiment to form multiple variations of the invention.

FIG. 4 depicts the wireline system 206, the wireless system 207, thecommunication billing system 415, and the customer bill 208. Thecommunication billing system 415 comprises the interface system 202, andthe processing system 201. The wireline system 206 is comprised ofwireline services 400 and 401. The wireless system 207 is comprised ofwireless services 402 and 403. Those skilled in the art will appreciatethat the wireline system 206 and the wireless system 207 could includenumerous such services although only wireline services 400 and 401 andwireless services 402 and 403 are shown for clarity.

The interface system 202 is comprised of interfaces 404, 405, 406, and407. The processing system 201 is comprised of pre-processors 408, 409,410, and 411, a maintenance processor 412, an event storage system 413,an extraction processor 414, and an invoice processing system (IPS) 415.The event storage system 413 is connected to the extraction processor414 and the maintenance processor 412. The extraction processor 414 isconnected to the IPS 415. The maintenance processor 412 is connected tothe pre-processors 408, 409, 410, and 411. The interface 407 isconnected to the pre-processor 408 and the wireline service 400. Theinterface 406 is connected to the pre-processor 409 and the wirelineservice 401. The interface 405 is connected to the pre-processor 410 andthe wireless service 402. The interface 404 is connected to thepre-processor 411 and the wireless service 403.

The interface 407 could be any interface system capable of receiving aplurality of wireline service events from the wireline service 400 andproviding those wireline service events to the pre-processor 408. Theinterface 406 could be any interface system capable of receiving aplurality of wireline service events from the wireline service 401 andproviding those wireline service events to the pre-processor 409. Theinterface 405 could be any interface system capable of receiving aplurality of wireless service events from the wireless service 402 andproviding those wireless service events to the pre-processor 410. Theinterface 404 could be any interface system capable of receiving aplurality of wireless service events from the wireless service 403 andproviding those wireless service events to the pre-processor 411.

The pre-processor 408 could be any processing system capable ofreceiving the plurality of wireline service events from the interface407 and processing each of the plurality of wireline service invents toformat the service events and validate the service events. Thepre-processor 408 provides the formatted and validated service events tothe maintenance processor 412. The pre-processor 409 could be anyprocessing system capable of receiving the plurality of wireline serviceevents from the interface 406 and processing each of the plurality ofwireline service invents to format the service events and validate theservice events. The pre-processor 409 provides the formatted andvalidated service events to the maintenance processor 412. Thepre-processor 410 could be any processing system capable of receivingthe plurality of wireless service events from the interface 405 andprocessing each of the plurality of wireless service invents to formatthe service events and validate the service events. The pre-processor410 provides the formatted and validated service events to themaintenance processor 412. The pre-processor 411 could be any processingsystem capable of receiving the plurality of wireless service eventsfrom the interface 404 and processing each of the plurality of wirelessservice events to format the service events and validate the serviceevents. The pre-processor 411 provides the formatted and validatedservice events to the maintenance processor 412.

Formatting the service events could include operations such asformatting each wireline and wireless service event into a common formfor further processing. Formatting the service events could also includeassociating the service events with an individual customer. One exampleof associating a service event could be adding a unique customeridentification to the service event. The customer identification couldbe assigned by the pre-processors 408, 409, 410, and 411, the wirelesssystem 207, the wireline system 206 or received from an outside sourcesuch as a customer information database.

Validating the service events could include operations such as verifyingthe accuracy and integrity of the data in the service event and/orverifying that a complete event record is received. If errors aredetected in the data, the pre-processors 408, 409, 410, and 411 couldmake edits. If the errors cannot be corrected, the service event couldbe rejected and reporting information generated by the pre-processors408, 409, 410, and 411 to alert system administrators of the error.

The maintenance processor 412 could be any processing system capable ofreceiving the plurality of wireline service events and the plurality ofwireless service events from the pre-processors 408, 409, 410, and 411.The maintenance processor 412 adds the plurality of wireline serviceevents and the plurality of wireless service events to the event storagesystem 413. As will become apparent from the following description, themaintenance processor 412 also removes the wireline service events andthe wireless service events from the event storage system 413 aftergeneration of the customer bill 208.

The extraction processor 414 could be any processor capable ofdetermining a customer's billing period and extracting wireline serviceevents and wireless service events from event storage system 413associated with the customer. The extraction processor 414 extracts thewireline service events and wireless service events for servicessubscribed to by the customer and generated during the customer'sbilling period. For example, if the customer subscribes to wirelineservice 400, wireline service 401, and wireless service 403, theextraction processor 414 extracts all of the wireline service eventsfrom wireline service 400 associated with the customer at the end of thecustomers billing period. The extraction processor 414 also extracts allof the wireline service events from wireline service 401 associated withthe customer and extracts all of the wireless service events fromwireless service 403 associated with the customer at the end of thebilling period. The extraction processor 414 provides the extractedwireline and wireless service events to the IPS 415.

The IPS 415 could be any processing system capable of processing thewireline service events and wireless service events to generate a totalcharge record for each of the wireline services 400 and 401 and thewireless services 402 and 403 subscribed to by the customer. The IPS 415processes the total charge records to generate the customer bill 208.Continuing with the above example, the IPS 415 processes the extractedwireline service events and wireless service events to: 1) generate atotal wireline charge record for the wireline service 400, 2) generate atotal wireline charge record for the wireline service 401, and 3)generate a total wireless charge record for the wireless service 403.The IPS 415 then generates a customer bill 208 based on the totalwireline charge record for the wireline service 400, the total wirelinecharge record for the wireline service 401, and the total wirelesscharge record for the wireless service 403.

The event storage system 413 could be any storage system capable ofstoring the plurality of wireline service events and the plurality ofwireless service events received from the wireline system 206 and thewireless system 207. Advantageously, the event storage system 413provides a common storage repository for all of the wireless serviceevents from wireless services 402 and 403 and the wireline serviceevents from the wireline services 400 and 401. Thus, the communicationbilling system 415, using event storage system 413, extraction processor414, and IPS 415, can generate the customer bill 208 for any customerregardless of services subscribed to by the customer.

FIG. 5 illustrates the operational steps of the communication billingsystem 415. Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5 wireline service events aregenerated by individual usage of wireline services 400 and 401 at step500. The wireline service events are provided to the processing system201 by the wireline system 206 via the interface system 202 at step 502.For example, wireline service events from the wireline service 400 areprovided to the interface 407 and provided by the interface 407 to thepre-processor 408. Wireline service events from the wireline service 401are provided to the interface 406 and provided by the interface 406 tothe pre-processor 409.

Substantially concurrently, wireless service events are generated byindividual usage of wireless services 402 and 403 at step 501. Thewireless service events are provided to the processing system 201 by thewireless system 207 via the interface system 202 at step 503. Forexample, wireless service events from the wireless service 402 areprovided to the interface 405 and provided by the interface 405 to thepre-processor 410. Wireless service events from the wireless service 403are provided to the interface 404 and provided by the interface 404 tothe pre-processor 411.

The pre-processors 408 and 409 validate and format each of the wirelineservice events received from the interfaces 407 and 406 and provide theformatted and validated wireline service events to the maintenanceprocessor 412 at step 504. The pre-processors 410 and 411 validate andformat each of the wireless service events received from the interfaces405 and 404 and provide the formatted and validated wireless serviceevents to the maintenance processor 412 at step 505.

The maintenance processor 412 stores the wireline service events and thewireless service events in the event storage system 413 at step 506. Themaintenance processor 412 also deletes old wireline and wireless serviceevents which have been processed into a customer bill 208 at step 506.In some examples of the invention, the maintenance processor 412 alsogenerates reporting information. The reporting information could includeinformation such as the capacity status of the event storage system 413,information on wireline and wireless service events stored or deletedfrom the event storage system 413, and/or information on wireline andwireless service events received from the pre-processors 408, 409, 410,and 411.

The event storage system 413 stores the wireline and wireless serviceevents during the course of the billing period. As billing periodsterminate for individual customers, extraction processor 414 extractsall of the wireline and wireless service events associated with theindividual customer and the billing period at step 507. The extractioncould be based on any suitable method with one example being by thecustomer identification associated with each individual customer. Theextraction processor 414 provides the extracted service events to theIPS 415.

The IPS 415 processes the extracted wireline and wireless service eventsassociated with the customer to generate total wireless and wirelinecharge records for each service, e.g. 400, 401, 402, and 403, subscribedto by the customer at step 508. The IPS 415 could also process the totalwireless charge records for each wireless service e.g. 402 and 403 togenerate a total wireless charge record representative of the totalcharge for wireless services. The IPS 415 could also process the totalwireline charge records for each wireline service e.g. 400 and 401 togenerate a total wireline charge record representative of the totalcharge for wireline services.

Processing of the extracted wireline and wireless service events couldinclude without limitation, determination and application of discounts.The discounts could be based on the call volume, usage of an individualservice or usage of multiple services during the billing period. Thediscounts could be based on a promotional event sponsored by the serviceprovider. Examples of promotional events could include holiday discountsor new service discounts. The discounts could also be based on theaggregation of all service usage from multiple customer locations or beawarded based on a threshold. An example of aggregation discountingcould include a discount for the total service usage across multipleoffices for a business customer. An example of threshold discountingcould include a first discount for meeting a minimum service usage and asecond discount for meeting a higher service usage for a particularservice or group of services. The processing of the extracted wirelineand wireless service events could also include determination andapplication of pro-rating. An example of pro-rating could includedetermination of a time period where unused services pre-purchased bythe customer are credited to the customer's bill.

The processing of the extracted wireline and wireless service eventscould also include a determination and application of across-contribution. Cross contribution comprises bundling of serviceminutes across multiple communication services. One example ofcross-contribution could include the application of a credit for unusedwireline service minutes to the total charge record for a wirelessservice. Another example of cross-contribution could include theapplication of a credit for unused wireless service minutes to the totalcharge record for wireline service. For example, a customer with a 500minute wireless service plan could use 420 minutes during the billingperiod. The IPS 415 could include the 420 minutes in the total chargerecord for the customer's wireless service and apply the 80 unusedminutes as a credit or contribution toward the customer's total chargerecord for a wireline service, such as residential long distance. Theprocessing of the extracted wireline and wireless service events couldalso include determination and application taxes, minimum servicecharges, and other base charges associated with the service.

At step 509 IPS 415 processes the total charge records for theindividual customer to generate a customer bill 208. The customer bill208 could be provided directly to the customer either electronically orin a paper format. The customer bill 208 could also be provided to othersystems including but not limited to, an auditing system.

The above-described systems include instructions that are stored onstorage media. The instructions can be retrieved and executed by aprocessor. Some examples of instructions are software, program code, andfirmware. Some examples of storage media are memory devices, tape,disks, integrated circuits, and servers. The instructions areoperational when executed by the processor to direct the processor tooperate in accord with the invention. The term “processor” refers to asingle processing device or a group of inter-operational processingdevices. Some examples of processors are computers, integrated circuits,and logic circuitry. Those skilled in the art are familiar withinstructions, processors, and storage media.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate variations of the abovedescribed embodiments that fall within the scope of the invention. As aresult, the invention is not limited to the specific examples andillustrations discussed above, but only by the following claims andtheir equivalents.

1. A method of operating a communication billing system, the methodcomprising: receiving a plurality of wireless service events from awireless system; receiving a plurality of wireline service events from awireline system; and processing the plurality of wireless service eventsand the plurality of wireline service events together to apply across-contribution, wherein the cross-contribution comprises bundling ofservice time across a wireless service and a wireline service, whereinapplying the cross-contribution comprises: applying a wireline creditfor unused wireline service time to a total wireless charge record;applying a wireless credit for unused wireless service time to a totalwireline charge record.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein processing theplurality of wireless service events and the plurality of wirelineservice events further comprises: extracting the wireless service eventsgenerated during a billing period by a customer based on a customeridentification; and extracting the wireline service events generatedduring the billing period by the customer based on the customeridentification.
 3. The method of claim 2 wherein processing theplurality of wireless service events and the plurality of wirelineservice events further comprises: determining the total wireless chargerecord for the extracted wireless service events; and determining thetotal wireline charge record for the extracted wireline service events.4. The method of claim 3 wherein processing the plurality of wirelessservice events and the plurality of wireline service events togetherfurther comprises: determining if the extracted wireless service eventsare eligible for the cross-contribution; applying the cross-contributionto the extracted wireless service events eligible for thecross-contribution; and adjusting the total wireless charge record. 5.The method of claim 3 wherein processing the plurality of wirelessservice events and the plurality wireline service events togetherfurther comprises: determining if the extracted wireline service eventsare eligible for the cross-contribution; applying the cross-contributionto the extracted wireline service events eligible for thecross-contribution; and adjusting the total charge record for theextracted wireline service events.
 6. The method of claim 1 whereinapplying the cross-contribution comprises providing a discount to acustomer based upon a total amount of service time accumulated acrossthe wireless service and the wireline service.
 7. A communicationbilling system comprising: a processing system configured to process aplurality of wireless service events together with a plurality ofwireline service events to apply a cross-contribution, wherein to applythe cross-contribution the processing system is configured to apply awireline credit for unused wireline service minutes to a total wirelesscharge record, and apply a wireless credit for unused wireless serviceminutes to a total wireline charge record; an interface system coupledto the processing system and configured to receive the plurality ofwireless service events and receive the plurality of wireline serviceevents for the processing system; and an event storage system configuredto store the received plurality of wireline service events and thereceived plurality of wireless service events.
 8. The communicationbilling system of claim 7 wherein the processing system is furtherconfigured to extract from the event storage system the wireless serviceevents based on a customer identification and extract from the eventstorage system the wireline service events based on the customeridentification.
 9. The communication billing system of claim 8 whereinthe processing system is further configured to determine the totalwireless charge record and determine the total wireline charge record.10. The communication billing system of claim 9 wherein the processingsystem is further configured to determine if the extracted wirelessservice events are eligible for the cross-contribution, apply thecross-contribution to the extracted wireless service events eligible forthe cross-contribution, and adjust the total wireless charge record. 11.The communication billing system of claim 9 wherein the processingsystem is further configured to determine if the extracted wirelineservice events are eligible for the cross-contribution, apply thecross-contribution to the extracted wireline service events eligible forthe cross-contribution, and adjust the total wireline charge record. 12.The communication billing system of claim 7 wherein the processingsystem is configured to apply a discount to a customer based upon atotal amount of service time accumulated across the wireless service andwireline service.
 13. A computer readable medium having encoded thereonsoftware for a communication billing system, the software comprising:instructions operational when executed by a processing system to directthe processing system to receive a plurality of wireless service eventsand a plurality of wireline service events, and process the plurality ofwireless service events and the plurality of wireline service eventstogether to apply a cross-contribution wherein the cross-contributioncomprises a wireline credit for unused wireline service minutes to atotal wireless charge record and a wireless credit for unused wirelessservice minutes to a total wireline charge record.
 14. The computerreadable medium of claim 13 wherein the instructions are operationalwhen executed by the processing system to direct the processing systemto determine if the wireless service events are eligible for thecross-contribution, apply the cross-contribution to the wireless serviceevents eligible for the cross-contribution, and adjust a total wirelesscharge record for the wireless service events.
 15. The computer readablemedium of claim 13 wherein the instructions are operational whenexecuted by the processing system to direct the processing system todetermine if the wireline service events are eligible for thecross-contribution, apply the cross-contribution to the wireline serviceevents eligible for the cross-contribution, and adjust a total wirelinecharge record for the wireline service events.
 16. The computer readablemedium of claim 13 wherein the instructions are operational whenexecuted by the processing system to direct the processing system toapply a discount based upon a total amount of service time accumulatedacross the wireless service and wireline service.